Staging Riis

August Sklar (MLA I ’25)

“Staging Riis” explores the evolution of “The People’s Beach,” a compact swath of shoreline at the end of Jacob Riis Park that queer New Yorkers have visited since 1941. For nearly a century, this fragment of coast has been a public queer refuge, perpetually on the brink of erasure. This project stages Riis for the next century, as a site of coastal and cultural resilience.

The entwined calamities of swelling sea levels and rising persecution of queer people have, climatically and culturally, eroded the site. The existing and proposed gray infrastructures facilitate this erosion within a linear regulatory regime. “Staging Riis” incrementally builds on the queer tradition of cultivating piecemeal spaces through acts of appropriation and deconstruction of existing systems.

Through time, the people take back the queer beach. They appropriate an Army Corp of Engineers dune and glean discarded materials from the adjacent vacant lot, turned construction staging ground. Collectively, these abandoned and regulatory spaces are turned into informal infrastructures of repose, resistance, and remembrance. As sea levels swell, the people migrate inland to the Riis Parking Lot, a historically preserved space designed by Robert Moses. This space is incrementally deconstructed into a hybridized car park, as its 72-acre hardscape is transformed into a successional, rural refuge.

“Staging Riis” accepts the reality that queer space breaks free of formalization and cannot last in a static state; its fortification is in its fragility, which is its ability to adapt in any climate. “Staging Riis” accepts the reality of constant evolution as a means of resistance.

Chemical Occupations: Anti-Colonial Reactions in the Desert

Issam Azzam (MLA I/MUP ’25)

“Chemical Occupations” examines how landscape architects can disassemble traditional ecological principles of growth, succession, and restoration to reconfigure landscape through chemical agency. It positions toxic landscapes, not merely as disturbed sites awaiting an idyllic fix, but rather as uncontained, reactive, and existing through multiple states of matter. 

In Fayoum, an oasis in the Sahara Desert, layers of occupation have toxified the landscape far beyond the presence of its original colonial agents. Here, ecology is co-opted as the final act of the colonial “exquisite corpse,” as a device to delineate and falsely restore through the foreign typology of the national park. Sets of chemical chromatograms, prioritized over Cartesian ecological tools, serve as a methodology to unveil, dissolve, and reconfigure the toxic residues of the former park. “Chemical Occupations” advances the “anti-park,” myths of reactive sovereignty, actualized through new rituals, markers, and stewardship practices, whereby Fayoumis reclaim toxicity toward new futures. 

ReBuild: Case Studies in Transformational Urban Redevelopment

What does it mean for an urban redevelopment project to be transformational? Only a select group of projects earn this distinction, those that achieve lasting change through inclusive community engagement, sustainable design, innovative policy and financing, and a thoughtful balance between the historical and the new. These projects demonstrate how the built environment can serve as a catalyst for equity, resilience, and long-term transformation. ReBuild offers a unique, case-based approach to learning from 4–6 real-world examples of transformational urban redevelopment across American and international cities. Through interactive analysis and discussion, students will unpack the complex interplay of public policy, design, financing, and community priorities that shape these projects. The case studies include large-scale public and private investments that aim to significantly revitalize their built and natural environments, incorporating infrastructure upgrades, adaptive reuse, new construction, and public space creation. Each case provides students the opportunity to simulate real-world roles, evaluate competing priorities, and propose solutions grounded in practice and theory. Students will: Gain insights into the social, economic, and environmental forces at play in transformational redevelopment efforts. Build practical skills in urban analysis, stakeholder engagement, decision-making under complexity, and integrated design thinking. Strengthen their ability to generate context-specific insights that inform more equitable and effective planning and development strategies. Case studies are the core of this course’s pedagogy. Each case presents a richly detailed, real-world scenario with complex problems, stakeholder tensions, and multiple decision points. Students will explore these cases through: Collaborative discussion and facilitated debate. Problem-solving workshops simulating real-world planning and design challenges. Role-playing and scenario analysis to understand competing perspectives. This active learning model moves beyond passive lecture-based instruction. It immerses students in the decision-making process, helping them develop critical thinking, persuasive communication, and the confidence to shape real urban futures. By the end of the course, students will not only understand how transformative redevelopment happens–they will be prepared to lead it.
 

Structures: Failure, Adaptation, and Reinvention

As the impact of embodied carbon catches up with that of operational carbon, the importance of adaptive reuse projects cannot be understated and the reuse of structural materials is often a key, if not the key, driver of architectural design. When you are confronted with the need to premise a building’s design on the retention of a large chunk of existing structure, having an intuitive feel for that structure’s ability to be re-activated under modern codes and the materials that are and are not compatible within, above, or below that structure, is often critical to success.

The course, therefore, will provide students with a deeper understanding of structural systems and assemblies through eight distinct lenses — mechanic/statics, structural failure, embodied carbon, scale, representation, code, pathology, and compatibility — each of which is intended to build, in the student, an ability to become proficient in the language of structure. This is not intended to be a technical proficiency (although you will gain further technical insight and ability) but, rather, a conversational ability that supports deeper, more nuanced, and more thoughtful interrogation of design intent in the collaboration between architect and structural engineer.

Ultimately, the intent is to celebrate existing structures and see in them, even in disrepair, the inspirational potential for reinvention and, often, in learning these histories and strengths, one has new insights into design and detailing within new buildings.

Architecture Outside Patronage

Historically, architecture has been initiated by the church and state, businesses and corporations, developers, and affluent institutions and individuals with the capital and resources necessary to commission architects. The realization of any project is dependent on the architect’s ability to establish and negotiate a relationship with a client or patron. In the performance of their services, the architect often assumes a passive role responding to a set of received parameters, which include a given site, budget, and functional or other quantitative or qualitative needs of the client.

This seminar will analyze the history of architectural patronage and locate instances outside of the normative professional structures and relationships between architects, clients, and builders, both past and present. In considering an expanded role, the seminar will examine the capacity of the architectural profession to initiate the project, to define the client, to bypass the client or patron altogether, to exercise greater control of the terms of design and construction, and/or to assume the roles, responsibilities, and risk of the developer and/or builder. The seminar will question and critique the normative professional processes and the client or patron as a necessary precondition and starting point for architecture. The seminar will attempt to distill and establish a framework for different alternative modes for practice that enable greater architectural “agency,” simply defined as the architect’s power and ability to achieve their goals. This research and speculation on non-normative practice also has the potential to refocus the profession away from the interests of those clients directly commissioning work and their capital, and towards values and interests marginalized by and excluded from typical and existing professional practice structures, which may include users (separate and distinct from clients), a broader public, under-represented stakeholders and constituencies, and the environment.

The seminar presupposes the practice of architecture is a territory and potential site of creativity and invention. Inherent in the seminar is the assumption that a new generation of architects will develop necessary and novel structures and processes and relations between actors, capital, land, and architecture
 

Note regarding the Fall 2025 GSD academic calendar: The first day of classes, Tuesday, September 2nd, is held as a MONDAY schedule at the GSD. This course will meet for the first time on Tuesday, September 9th.

Ephemeral Infrastructure

This research seminar will explore infrastructure and their transformative potential in contemporary urban environments. The bias the seminar will bring to this discussion is the notion of ephemerality in designing infrastructure and the innovative lens through which this crucial aspect of any settlement can be reimagined. As cities confront rapid demographic, environmental, and sociocultural shifts, impermanent infrastructures have emerged as critical tools for addressing transient needs and fostering dynamic public engagement. Innovative Infrastructures: Designing for Impermanence interrogates the design, materiality, and societal impacts of temporary structures, proposing a systematic classification to analyze their diverse applications across global urban contexts.

Students will explore infrastructures designed for transient use, including event-based pavilions, emergency shelters, mobile workspaces, and participatory art installations. These interventions could span categories such as art/speculation, mobility, community, entertainment, health, water, and sanitation, reflecting their multifunctional roles in contemporary cities. Through case studies and critical readings, the course examines how ephemeral architectures challenge conventional notions of permanence, prioritizing flexibility, user agency, and rapid deployment.

Key questions guiding the course include: How do we define the boundaries between ephemeral and permanent infrastructure in urban contexts? What are the key factors that determine the lifespan of ephemeral structures? How can we measure the social impact of temporary urban interventions? What role does technology play in enabling more adaptive and responsive ephemeral infrastructures? How do different cultural contexts influence the design and reception of ephemeral structures? What design strategies balance spectacle with utilitarian function? Can temporary interventions democratize urban space, or do they risk perpetuating exclusion under the guise of flexibility? How do we define the line between what can be considered infrastructure and otherwise a folly? This seminar interrogates the notion of deployment and how that might influence the design of a system and conversely how redeployment or reuse could influence the imagination of infrastructure.

Through interdisciplinary analysis, students will produce case studies and speculative proposals. These outputs aim to redefine infrastructure not as static edifice but as adaptive (building) systems that embrace uncertainty, resource constraints, and collaborative authorship. The format of this course is that of a research seminar where the students, with the instructor, will collectively craft a framework at the start of the course such that this research endeavor could be collated in the form of a publication and/ or exhibition.

 

Interdisciplinary Art and Design Practices

The Interdisciplinary Art and Design Practices Seminar investigates art and design work in the interdisciplinary modalities of contemporary culture, the city, and the planet. As artists and designers respond to challenges of global magnitude and their local impacts, engage with cross-cultural and often conflicting conditions, and operate in disparate economic and societal realms, the need for increased engagement and collaboration is paramount. The complexity present in the context of action–economic, social, political, cultural, and ecological–frequently requires interdisciplinary approaches accompanied by cross-pollinating knowledge and skill sets.

Stemming from socially engaged art and design practices, this seminar aims to develop artistic tools and approaches that expand disciplinary boundaries, crossover and interact with communities, policymakers, institutions, and various experts, and help foster new forms of interdisciplinary knowledge.

Amid the climate emergency, escalating militarized conflicts, peak armament, and rapid technological advancements, we must reimagine visions, strategies, and pragmatic processes to foster new forms of collaboration that prioritize care for both others and the planet.

This semester, in dialogue with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Vienna Art Academy PhD group led by Prof. Elke Krasny, the seminar will explore the themes of “Dark Matter” and “Design with Care“–both in theory and practice–by examining the diverse impacts and residues of atomic, nuclear, and quantum physics, ranging from bombs to AI, and considering their related material infrastructures, including mines, power plants, and waste facilities.

This project-based seminar adopts an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complex interplay between scientific advancements, technological infrastructure, and responsible design. Through critical and creative engagement, we will explore how artistic practices can shape narratives and cultivate visions of care across multiple scales–from individual to collective bodies and from domestic to ecological spaces–while fostering a sense of shared experience and responsibility.

The course includes lectures, conversations with experts, and workshops. Throughout the semester, students will develop projects using diverse media, such as visual documentation, spatial design at various scales, policy recommendations, and interventions in both physical and virtual public spaces.

The semester will culminate and conclude with a collective exhibition to showcase the students’ work.

Architecture of Time

A film is an act of space making, which makes itself seen, an act of building shaped in time.

This class will examine what we can learn when we consider filmmaking as a critical spatial practice. Using a combination of film theory and practical workshops, students will learn to make films that interrogate our built environment and consider what film can teach us about how we understand, represent, and design space.

Architecture and film share an interdisciplinary correspondence, a desire to build worlds for spectators to inhabit. One may view film language as very different from that of space, but is it? If we accept that buildings and cities are instruments of time, and both are as much of the mind as they are physical, then it is easy to see how film and architecture share a visual and material world. The perception of a space is as much defined by its associations as by its physical qualities. When we watch a film, we register all the mental, sensual, and physical faculties that are engaged in a particular space at a precise time and yet such permanence does not have to be a building that is recognizable by its material appearance. Let us equate filmic experience to that of physical space and consider what film can teach us about how we interrogate and engage with architecture.

The accepted image of architecture on film has become acclimatized to conventional, static, ocular-centric, and binary representations of the so-called ‘man-made environment.’ In response to this position, the course will introduce the idea of the architectural essay film, as an alternative way to think of architecture, where openness, fluidity, and interdisciplinary create links between space making and film language. Drawing on the work of experimental filmmakers, such as Chantal Ackerman, Chris Marker, and Maya Deren, each session will interrogate how film, as a visual essay, can provide an infrastructure where tolerance and hope allow for a slow engagement with the complexities of architecture. Screenings will be accompanied with key texts by critical thinkers in the fields of film and architectural theory, such as Beatriz Colomina, Giuliana Bruno, and Vivian Sobchack, to build on a distinct analytical foundation, from where students will be invited to establish critical perspectives. Supporting ideas not merely advancing in a single direction, but which are interwoven and developed as a carpet, that delve between the gaps of each field of study, architecture and film. The intention is not to fulfill a preconceived goal, but to explore a space built on polysemy and multiplicity, which demonstrates the possibilities that arise from examining space-making from a cinematic dimension.

No prior filmmaking experience is required. The course is designed to support experimentation and critical reflection, welcoming students from all backgrounds interested in exploring the intersection of space, cinema, and design.

Paper or Plastic: Reinventing Shelf Life in the Supermarket Landscape

We tend to assume that supermarkets are static, neutral spaces where little of significance ever happens. The supermarket shelf is actually a highly volatile, hyper-competitive dynamic market landscape. On this shelf, products struggle to maximize every possible advantage, all in a ruthless effort to lure consumers away from competitors. However, what may have once been merely an issue of attention-grabbing graphics applied to packaging has quickly become much more complex. The contemporary consumer in today’s strained economy demands tangible value from the products that he/she consumes. To survive, brands must wrestle with new issues that include the ergonomics of the hand, the complex geometries of the refrigerator, and even sustainable material innovations that determine a product’s afterlife and its impact on the environment. These are multi-scalar, spatial life problems that designers are uniquely suited to address.

This seminar will ask students to operate as brand strategists. However, rather than invent new products, students will instead innovate upon existing brands. Outdated supermarket products will be reconsidered from the top down (brand identity, consumer target, logo, tagline, packaging, etc.). Students will also be required to study their product’s shelf competitors and will learn by presenting their observations through visual arguments rather than those that are explicitly verbal.

Each seminar will open with multimedia presentations on topics such as conducting demographic research, global color psychology, brand architecture, case studies in product launch failures, creating brand touchpoints, crafting a visual argument, and making an effective pitch. These conversations will be supplemented by readings from the business and financial sections of several newspapers, magazine articles, and blog interviews with brand experts.

The deliverables for the seminar will be presented in final review format in front of a cross-disciplinary jury of business luminaries. The output will include a full-scale 3-D print of the product redesign supplemented by graphical data, renderings, and digital animations. Ultimately, the seminar’s ambition is to make real a scenario that finds designers sitting at multiple tables, tackling issues of economics, technology, politics, and media at macro and micro scales.

Drawing as Perception, Experience, and Action

This course is intended as a creative drawing laboratory for designers–an expressive, playful supplement to computer-based work. It will guide students in mastering hand-drawing techniques, refining their sensitivity to detail, and developing the ability to express what they see in a visually convincing and evocative form.

Class projects will include drawing in both indoor and outdoor settings, as well as working with live models. Through the drawing process, students will focus on the world of line, texture, shape, light, shadow, and value. We will use a variety of tools, materials, and techniques, including pencils, vine charcoal, markers, ink, and other wet and dry media–later combining these with cameras, computer renderings, and more.

Over the course of the semester, students will complete three major drawing projects along with several shorter assignments.
• In one nonrepresentational drawing project, students will explore the formal expression of an emotional life experience.
• In another, they will investigate the performance of the human body in interaction with the built or natural environment.
• The final project will invite viewer interaction with the architectural setting through the design and installation of site-specific, illusionistic drawings physically inscribed on the interior walls of Gund Hall.

Students will also participate in field trips to sketch and draw in outdoor environments. Classwork will be supported by presentations and discussions of relevant works from art history and contemporary art. Students will sketch and draw in outdoor environments around campus. Guest artists will be invited as reviewers for the presentation and exhibition of final projects.